GLENDALE, Ariz. — Dave Hakstol remembers the five hours seeming like an eternity.

The Flyers had just gotten shellacked 6-1 at home by the New York Islanders and had to fly West for a 10-day road trip. Tuesday morning they’ll enjoy the flight back East a lot more after taking seven of a possible eight points from the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks and the Arizona Coyotes, who were the hottest team in the NHL before the Flyers beat them 5-2 Monday night.

“I give a lot of credit to the leadership and the guys in this room that have been through some ups and downs and to know how to handle it, to keep perspective and know the areas that we had to push a little harder in,” the coach said. “They did a very good job of that. Once you get that first win in Anaheim it has a way of letting you breathe a little bit and it was big to get ourselves out on the right foot on this trip.”

Even though the Flyers were far from pretty, they got the job done Monday. A seeing-eyed shot from Claude Giroux was his first of three points on the night and put the Flyers in the driver’s seat. They’ve been comfortable there recently.

Before the trip started they almost exclusively allowed the game’s first goal and had to scratch and claw to get back into it. Now they’ve made a habit out of leading games, although the sample size is still small for their liking.

“We’re pretty happy about our road trip here. Seven out of eight points, it’s pretty good, but we can’t be satisfied,” Sean Couturier said. “We’ve got to come to home and have a good stretch at home and build on this road trip and keep climbing in the standings.”

They figured that going on the road might help get things going.

There are distractions at home, tickets being asked for, post-practice events and responsibilities. If the Flyers are going to overcome their early struggles and take the next step from last year as they intended back in September, they’ll have to get comfortable playing at home too.

“You play a team game, we’re a pretty good team,” general manager Ron Hextall said. “If we play like individuals, we’re not very good. I don’t think we’re different than a whole lot of teams but earlier in the season we were playing like individuals. I don’t care how good you are, a team always beats individuals.

“We need to get more habitual in playing the way we’re playing right now.”

Here are four more takeaways from Monday night’s game…

Pickard’s strong game

One way to impress a team’s brass is to step up in a desperate moment. Alex Lyon did it last year. Cal Pickard has done it the last two games. With Brian Elliott on the shelf after getting hit in the head by a teammate and Michal Neuvirth already back in Philadelphia, Pickard took the reins.

His second period was his finest when he made 12 of his 35 saves and was the best of the Flyers’ penalty killers on the two they successfully killed. He didn’t have a shot at stopping the goal scored on the third power play in the frame.

“Yeah it’s good to get into a rhythm for sure,” Pickard said. “I think that was my fourth or fifth game now and fourth start so it’s good to get a little more comfortable and I thought my last two were my best two so far. I just gotta build off that. Enjoy this one tonight and then back to work when we get back to Philly.”

When the Flyers do return home they’re expecting good news about Elliott and that he won’t be out long. Lyon had to fly out to Phoenix to back up and Pickard did well with his opportunity. Considering the Flyers plucked him off waivers before heading out to Las Vegas to start their season, this clearly wasn’t how they drew it up.

After a couple rough outings, Pickard has been up to the task.

“I think he’s a veteran now,” Couturier said. “He’s been around for quite a while and he’s a fighter. He’ll battle every night and he’ll fight for each puck. That’s what you want from your backup goalie. He’s done a great job so far.”

Power play finally clicks

Entering the night the Flyers’ power play had only been 1-for-8 on the road trip and the lone goal came in the first game against the Anaheim Ducks. That changed on the team’s second power play and it wasn’t a pretty goal that broke the streak. Gostisbehere shot the puck from the point and Derek Stepan inadvertently tipped it behind his goalie, Darcy Kuemper.

On the trip the Flyers definitely improved in certain facets of the game. Special teams weren’t one of them before Monday night. In addition to the goal on the man advantage, they also killed three of four power plays, which is above their season average.

“There’s good signs on both (the power play and penalty kill),” Hakstol said before the game, “but as we go through this road trip that’s gonna be one area tonight where I think we have to win the specialty teams battle. Just a continuation of all the areas of our game. There’s not one area that we can start neglecting and move on to another. We’ve got to keep adding, keep improving and strengthening the way we win games.”

Playing ahead

Considering how much the Flyers were falling behind in games before the trip started, this stat is a shocker: at no point in the four games did they trail. The only game they lost was in overtime, so no time elapsed after Timo Meier won the Sharks a game on Saturday night.

Playing ahead is something the Flyers could sure get used to.

“You can control the game a little bit more when you have the lead,” Giroux said. “At home early this season we weren’t getting the first goal and then we’re just chasing the whole game. They came at us hard. That’s their game and they’ve been very successful lately because they put up a lot of pressure on opposing teams and they get chances out of it.”

Loose Pucks

• Oskar Lindblom had six points on the four-game road trip. He got more accolades from his teammates for a pair of blocked shots in the third periods of the last two games. “I don’t care,” he said. “We have to block shots to win games here. If the whole team does it, we’re gonna let in less goals. It’s a positive.”

• I don’t have pictorial evidence, but Hakstol has at least one pair of Gritty socks. He told public relations director Zack Hill that the team is 2-0 when he has worn them. Time to start a manufacturing plant in South Philly.

• Travis Konecny left the game in the third period when he was cross-checked from behind by Kevin Connauton head-first into the boards. He eventually returned to the game, likely having to pass concussion protocol to do so.